Love Leo? Look For More in “Transformers 3″

Credit where credit is due: photo of Ramon Rodriguez in ”Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” courtesy of the LA Times. All clear, Legal Department? 

Interesting article in the LA Times about Ramon Rodriguez, the young actor who plays the supporting role of Leo Spitz in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” According to the article, he made such a good impression on Michael Bay that he’s likely to have a beefed up part in the next film. 

Director Michael Bay has a third “Transformers” film in mind, and if it plays out as he expects, the next installment would have a more substantial role for Rodriguez. The filmmaker, speaking at his office a few weeks before “Revenge of the Fallen” was released, seemed to have some pride of discovery when talking about Rodriguez.

“I’ve worked with big stars, people like Will Smith, Sean Connery and Bruce Willis, but casting is a weird thing, it takes you places you don’t expect,” Bay said. “We went looking for a sidekick in this movie, Shia’s sidekick, and we find this new kid who really pops on screen. I think he’s going to have a real bright career. It’s great to work with big stars, but it’s always fun to discover people.” 

First off, so much for all that talk of Bay needing time away from big robots/explosion films and stepping away from a third Transformers film. Second, keep those quotes in mind while doing your contract negotiations for the next film, Mr. LaBeouf–ask for too much and you’ll hear, “Kid, you’re replaceable, we’ve got another main character lined up and ready to take over.”

Rodriguez didn’t start out as an actor (warning: this is the kind of story that will make all you hard-working drama students want to throw yourself off a building). He started out as a basketball player with skills, but not enough height, so he got a degree in sports management from NYU and went to work in the Knicks community relations office. Which, to be honest, sucked. “You would think I would love it, but working for a team that’s losing is just no fun,” he said. “It was so gray, so dark, there were layoffs and turmoil.”

The Knicks, until very recently known around these parts as Team Titanic. Good move to get out of there. Rodriguez got a job performing in a Nike traveling halftime show where he did basketball tricks. This got him some commercials, and from there, acting! Voila! Now why didn’t I think of that career path?

And further warning for drama school grads–don’t bother running through your classical monologue when you have a Michael Bay audition–put on your running shoes instead. Here’s how Rodriguez described his meeting with the Master of Explosions:

“For 90 minutes, he had me jumping, running, diving over the furniture in his office — that was the audition. He told me, ‘OK, hide behind the desk!’ ‘Now, run over here!’ And man, I was looking in his eyes, and he was enjoying it. He’s got a passion for action. It shows in the movies too.”

Fun stuff. You can read the whole article in the LA Times.